Skjødhammer's Crooked Bones

Stats

• Type: Wondrous item
• Rarity: Rare
• Attunement: Required

Properties

This set of six yellowed knucklebones is weighted with lead fillings that show as dark spots like bruises on fruit. When you roll these dice for any purpose—gambling, divination, or random determination—you may declare the result before rolling. The dice show that result, but you immediately incur 1 debt point. While you have debt points from these dice, you have disadvantage on all saving throws. Each debt point fades after you complete a long rest during which you deliberately fail or relinquish something of personal value (a cherished item, a relationship, a held conviction). The DM determines what qualifies. Once per day when debt would accrue, you may attempt a DC 15 Charisma saving throw to resist it. On a success, the dice function as written but you gain no control over the result—it is truly random, and no debt is incurred.

Lore

Tax-collector Skjødhammer kept these bones in his vest pocket for thirty years, using them to arbitrate disputes in settlements too small for magistrates. Witnesses claimed he always ruled fairly, though families subject to his judgments reported slow rot in their cellars—apples turning to vinegar in the barrel, grain sprouting black mold, children born with teeth already loose. The Ministry of Ledgers classified his methods as acceptable loss margins. When Skjødhammer died, his door was found nailed shut from the outside, though he'd been seen leaving that morning.

Curse

If you die while carrying debt points from these dice, your body decays at triple speed and all doors within 60 feet of your corpse become stuck, requiring a DC 17 Strength check to open. This effect is permanent until your remains are burned with aromatic herbs worth at least 50 gp.

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